The Aftermath
by Claire C. Griffon
Summary: What happens to Spike in that time period that he was in the amulet? That question and more answered here!


This story is a short one I wrote for a friend for Christmas. I felt that it had to be shared with the rest of the world, and she agreed, so her it is. I think you'll get the jist of it, but in case you dont....

The idea behind this is what is happening to Spike while he's trapped inside the amulet. I realize that he did come back as a ghost, but I took poetic liscense here and changed it around a bit.

So, welcome to The Aftermath

"I love you" Buffy said, grabbing his hand.  
"No, you don't. But thanks for saying it." Then he added sharply, "Now GO!" Buffy ran up the stairs into the school, leaving Spike alone in the Hellmouth with "the trinket" around his neck. "I wanna see how it ends." he whispered.  
The world around him was crumbling, any fool could see that. However, Spike saw more. All the Ubervamps were turning to dust, and what was left of The First was screaming bloody murder as it disappeared. Smiling, Spike raised his head up and laughed like a maniac for the last time as the direct rays of the sun turned him to dust.  
His eyes fluttered open, and Spike was immediatly blinded by the bright, white light that was everywhere. He put a hand up over his eyes, expecting to burst into flames at any moment. Then, he remembered that the whole bursting into flame bit had already happened.  
Standing up, Spike blinked his eyes a few times to get used to the brightness fo the place. Looking around, he saw more of the smae whiteness, but it was interspirsed with marble pillars on either side. "Bloody 'ell." he whispered gently.  
He started walking down between the pillars and the mist parted before him, revealing a marble pathway. It was, obviously, white as well.  
"Well, I think it's safe to say that I don't mix very well here." he said, looking down at his all black clothing. "Oh well. Never mixed well with anything in Sunnyhell either." _Except maybe Buffy, _he thought. Shaking his head to clear it of those thoughts, he continued walking down the pathway. Soon, he came to a place wher the road split into three. Which way to go? Spike couldn't decide.  
Eventually, he just said, "Oh, bugger this." and chose the middle one. The path seemed to go on forever. Soon, Spike was wondering if he had chosen the right path. Still, he kept at it. After walking for what seemed an eternity, Spike saw the mist vanish completly and leave him standing in front of a large, wooden door.  
For a moment or two, Spike debated over whether or not he should knock on it. Finially, he just thought,_ Balls. Well, can't die again._ Walking up to it, he raised his right hand, and knocked on it three times.  
The door opened, and the person standing there would have taken his breath away if he had had any. "Buffy?" he said, amazed, and slightly confused. He ran a hand through his bleach-blond hair and stammered out, "How...Why...What...What are you doing here?"  
Buffy only smiled and beckoned for him to follow her. Well, if she wanted to see him, he wasn't going to argure. Following her inside, the door closed gently behind him. Then, she turned to him and said,"Hello Spike."  
"Buffy, luv, what are you doing here? Are you..." he could bear to finish the reat of the sentence.  
"Dead?" Buffy laughed. "A world of no. In fact, I'm really not even Buffy, but if it's easier for yu, go ahead and call me that."  
"Where am I?" he asked.  
"Limbo"  
He scoffed at her remark. "Right, and I'm the Pilsbury Doughboy. Seriously, where am I?"  
"I said you were in Limbo." Buffy said.  
Spike looked her straight in the eyes, which told all. The old saying of 'the eyes are the window to the soul' popped into hi head just then, and he realized that Buffy was telling the truth. "Oh, bloody 'ell. You ain't joking, are you?" he said.  
"No." she replied simply.  
His hand ran through his hair again as he asked, "What am I doin' here? Too good for a hell, to bad for heaven, that it?"  
"No Spike, it's not. You're in Limbo because you have a choice to make."  
"Excuse me?"he asked, his eyebrows raising. "And what type of decision would that be?"  
"What you're going to do now that your life...I mean unlife is over."  
"And my choices would be?"  
"Spike, ordinarlly, duster Vampires just disappear. Their souls are gone, so they can't go to heaven, or become anything, like a ghost. The only option is straight to a Hell Dimension. You, on the other hand, have, or rather, had a soul."  
"I think you were right the first time on that one luv. I know I have a soul and I have the bloody scars to prove it." he interrupted.  
"Spike, the pain that you felt when the necklace was glowing? That was your soul being used as gas. That's what the necklace runs off of."  
"So, I'm an Ex-Champion then?"  
"Yeah, confusing, I know."  
"You have no idea." he murmered.  
"Anyway, you have a choice to make regarding what you're going to do now. You can either go back as a Vampire, or a human. There is another alternative too, but..." Buffy trailed off.  
"But what?" Spike prompted.  
"But for some reason, I don't think you're going to like it. You know what I'm saying?"  
"Might help if you actualy said it."  
"You can take one of the choices I mentioned before, or you can go to heaven."  
Spike laughed. "Heaven? Have you gone completly carrot-top? You have got to be joking. Are you sure you don't mean a Hell Dimension?"  
Buffy looked at him.  
"Oh, this is rich. A Vampire, given the opportunity to go to heaven?" he said while laughing. He continued on for quite sometime with his laughing. He only stopped when he noticed that Buffy wasn't. Still smiling, he asked her, "What's wrong luv?"  
"Spike, do you realize the amazingness of the offer given to you?"  
"No, not really."  
"You can return to earth as a Vampire, but even without a soul, you'll still act and feel like you have one. Or, you can return as William, the human, and you and Buffy can die together. Finially, you can go to heaven, a choice no Vampire has ever been offered before. Not even Angel."  
"Wait, you mean the Ponce can't even get to heaven?" Spike sighed. "Whay me then?"  
"What?"  
"Why me? Out of all the Champions, why pick me? I've never done anything special."  
"You loved a Slayer."  
"So did Angel." Spike pointed out.  
"You wore the amulet."  
"Angel was going to first."  
"You never gave up on Buffy or anyone. And you were always there for her."  
Spike opened and closed his mouth a few times.  
"What, no snapy comeback?"  
"Oh piss off. What happens if I choose to go to heaven?"  
"Would you like you like to see?"  
"Sure, why not?"

A moment later, Spike was hovering over a rain-slicked alley where Angel, some blue chick that looked like a smurf, and Charles Gunn were standing. Coming at them was a horde of demons.  
"Let's go to work." Spike heard Angel say. Then, the demons attaacked. Only a few minuites later, Spike could see that Angel and his team were going down. Things were desperate, and the needed help. There was a yell of voices from behind the demons and the chain-link fence, and then the girls were all over the place. Spike saw a glimsp of an one-eyed, brown-haired man, a red-haired girl, an brunette, and one blond.  
"Bloody 'ell! It's the Scoobies!!" he shouted. However, even with the extra help, the good guys were going down. Spike saw a miniture whirlwind to his right and looked over at it. There, he saw Dawn, hacking away at all oncoming Vampires, demons, and all sorts of other big-bads. Eventually though, one got through her defenses and bit her. "LITTLE BIT!!" he screamed as Dawn did the same without words. Then, he watched in horrer as he saw Dawn start drinking from a Vampire's cut. "They're Vamping her!" he exclaimed quietly. "And there's not a damn thing I can do about it."  
Looking up to the stars, he yelled, "Buffy, or whoever the hell you are, get you ass down here right now and get me away from this nonsense!!! I don't wanna see it anymore!!!"  
Before he could blink, he was back in the comforting, white light of Limbo.  
"I thought you liked death and carnage Spike." Buffy said.  
Spike shook his head. "Before, maybe. But not now. It hits too close to home." _Unless I'm the one causing it to save the world._. The thought made him smile. Then, his face grew grave again. "So, Little Bit gets turned if I go to heaven?"  
"Unfortunely, yes."  
"What if I choose human?"

Once again, Spike was hovering above the same alley, but this time, there was a bleach-blond whirlwind next to the miniture one. "Oh, this is wierd. I'm watching myself fight." He held his breath when he reconized the Vampire that had turned Dawn in this last viewing. However, he laughed out loud when he saw himslef kill it. "I kick butt, even as a ... oh, bloody 'ell."  
The him in the alley had just been stabbed throught the gut with a very sharp, and very pointy sword. he dropped to his knees on the ground and grit his teeth together. He screamed as he pulled it out, but so did the Vampire that got his head cut off by it. The sword hit the ground, and a moment later, Buffy was at his side. Even with his Vampiric hearing, Spike couldn't hear what they were saying, but he guessed it was something mushy.  
"Buffy! Watch out!" Dawn screamed. Buffy whirled around, but it was too late. the demon had gotten in close enough to stab her through the heart with it's dagger. She fell beside him.  
"I've seen enough of this." Spike said. He found himself back in Limbo again. "Strike the first two choices luv. Little Bit ain't dieing, and neither is Buffy."  
"Do you want to see what happens if you go back as a Vampire?"  
"Do I have a choice?"

This time, instead of floating over the alley, Spike was in it as himself.  
"You are fading. You'll last 10 minuites at best." said the blue chick.  
"Then let's make 'em memorable." said Gunn, standing up.  
Confused, Spike turned to Angel. "In terms of a plan?"  
"We fight."  
"Bit more specific?!" he half-shouted at him.  
"Well," Angel said, taking a step towards the oncoming demons, "I kind of want to slay the dragon."  
Spike looked up and saw it. "Oh, balls." he muttered quietly.  
"Let's go to work." Angel said.  
He found himself in a fight for his life. Striking at everything that came within range of his hands and feet, Spike actually hit Angel a few times. Luckily, Angel thought it was the demons who were doing that, so Spike didn't get hit back. _Where are the Scoobies?_ he found himself thinking. There was a sudden noise from behind him and the demons, and Spike smiled. _The calvery hs arrived_.  
Seeing Dawn, he made his way through the sea of creatures and stood next to her. "Hey Nibblet."  
"Spike! Aren't you, well, suposed to be dead?"  
"At this point, aren't we all?"  
Despite his pessimistic additude, Angel and the Scoobies were winning. When the last demon was nothing more than a body on the ground, Spike found himslef looking at a very confused Dawn.  
"Why aren't you dead?"she asked him.  
Spike looked sad as he said, "Little Bit, I'm hurt. I thought you would want to see me again."  
Dawn laughed and hugged him, like she was 13 years old again instead of 17. "Who am I kidding? It's great to see you again!"  
Caught off guard by her hug, Spike managed to stay upright, but it was just barely. Returning her hug, he whispered, "You too."  
She let go of him and looked up into his sapphire blue eyes and asked, "You lose anybody?"  
The answer sprang unbidden to his mind as he answered. "Wes. I think Gunn's gone too."  
"No, I'm still here." he said, limping towards them. "So's Angel and Blue."  
Dawn saw the Gunn was bleeding heavily and asked, "How are you still alive?"  
"I'm like a bad penny. I always turn up." he replied, smiling through the pain.  
_Unfortunetly, so does the Poof._ Spike thought.  
"Let's get you over to Willow. She can heal you." Dawn said, helping Gunn. When they were gone from sight, Spike smiled. "She's really grown up since I last saw her." he muttered.  
"I know", said Buffy from behind him. Spike turned around, suprised that he had't heard her creepp up on him. Instead of seeing thealleyway, he saw swirling mist and, of coarse, white light."So, you make your choice?" she asked him/  
"Let me be a bit and I'll mull it over. I'll hoot and holler when I need you." Buffy nodded, and was gone, leaving Spike with his own thoughts._ What to choose, what to choose? If I choose my own happiness, and go to heaven, Little Bit gets Turned. If I go back as a human, the Salyer dies, and who knows about Little Bit. The only case where no one dies..well, no one importsnt anyways, is if I sacrifice my own happiness and go back as a Vampire. Bollocks. I hate life changing decisions like this._  
Spike sat there, stewing over his choices for a good hour or so. In that time, he only got a little closer to his decision, and one hell of a headache. He assumed it was from thinking too hard, considering he was never a thinker, and he was most likly right.  
"Buffy!" he called out eventually.  
"Have you made your choice?" she asked.  
"I think so. Before I say it though, I'm a trifle bit curious 'bout you. What's your name, really?"  
"Hope." she said, transforming into her true form-a woman of about do with long, blonde hair, green eyes, and white wings. "Actually, it's harder to pronounce than that, but it's the only word close enough to the word that the Powers-That-Be have."  
"Thanks. You've made my choice easier then."  
Hope smiled and then nodded. A stairway of light appeared behind her.  
"What's that for?"  
"You're path to heaven." she explained.  
"Who says I'm going to heaven? I feel like saving the world again, as a Vampire." Spike told her, smiling.

So, what do you think?? PLEASE R&R!!!


End file.
